Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sharing digital content and, more specifically, to content sharing with consistent aspect ratios.
Description of the Related Art
Currently, digital content may be shared between different computer devices implementing various techniques. During a content sharing session, a shared workspace that includes various types of digital content may be displayed on multiple computer devices at different physical locations, or a shared workspace displayed on one computer device may be shared with different remote computer devices. In conventional content sharing systems, a shared workspace having a particular aspect ratio is usually displayed with the aspect ratio associated with the display of the local computer device that renders and displays the shared workspace to users who are present in the same physical location as the local computer device. In effect, the aspect ratio of the shared workspace that is originally generated is converted to the aspect ratio of the local display implementing various conversion techniques, such as pan operations and/or scan operations. For example, the original aspect ratio of a shared workspace of 16:9 may be converted to an aspect ratio of 4:3 associated with a local display implementing one or more pan and/or scan operations. Typically, when converting the aspect ratio of a shared workspace in such a fashion implementing conventional techniques, a substantial amount of information included within the shared workspace may be lost.
In addition, when converting the aspect ratio of a shared workspace to the aspect ratio associated with a local display, the original configuration and layout of the shared workspace can appear differently at any local computer device having a display that has an aspect ratio different than the aspect ratio of the originally generated shared workspace. In the same vein, when a shared workspace is displayed on local computer devices having displays of differing aspect ratios, the shared workspace is displayed in different aspect ratios across those different local computer devices. Consequently, the layout and overall appearance of the shared workspace can be different at each such local computer device. This result is less than optimal given that a consistent configuration and layout of the shared workspace is desired at each local computer device displaying the shared workspace so that, among other things, the user experience can be as similar as possible across all persons participating in the content sharing session.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art are more effective techniques for displaying shared workspaces more consistently on computer devices.